Of Emeralds and Nymphs
by Tirainy
Summary: (Mythological!AU) Shadow knows there are pressing matters he needs to take care of — and yet he still cannot bring himself to walk away, too fascinated by the strange nymph that just seems to love throwing him for a loop. [Sonadow]
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** **Of Emeralds and Nymphs**

 **Summary:** (Mythology!AU) There are pressing matters he needs to take care of—Shadow is well aware of that—and yet he cannot bring himself to walk away, too fascinated by the strange nymph that just seems to love throwing him for a loop. [Sonadow]

 **Disclaimer:** **I do not own any of the characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.**

* * *

 _The Chaos Emerald has to be somewhere around here. I can_ ** _feel_** __it...__ Shadow frowns as he continues to walk through the forest, the legendary gem still nowhere in sight even though he has been walking around this part of the forest for at least two hours now.

The ebony hedgehogs huffs in frustration. It's been __months__ since he set off to find these legendary relics known as Chaos Emeralds. So far he has obtained four, but currently holds only three of them in his possession; he let the so called 'strongest man among the mortals' Knuckles borrow one in exchange for a future favor, believing it might come in handy one day.

Or that's at least what he told everybody. But, honestly, he has done that mostly to finally get rid of the loud hero. He doesn't need to hear every day how he is the only thing separating Knuckles from finally finishing his twelve labors.

Shadow frowns as he feels the Emerald's presence growing stronger, accompanied by a strong presence of something—no _someone_ else. The ebony hedgehog unsheathes his sword and pushes aside the branches blocking his way, prepared to fight any beast or person that might get in his way of getting the Emerald.

As he brushes away the wooden obstacle and steps forward, he barely catches himself from stepping into a pond which he hasn't noticed due to the thick vegetation. His scowl deepens as he looks at the inconvenient body of the water in his way and then around its shore, hoping he will at least see where the Emerald is.

And then he sees it. The green Chaos Emerald is motionlessly lying beside—"A nymph?" Shadow muses quietly with a raised brow, looking at the being kneeling beside the pond. This 'being' is a blue hedgehog, clad only in a light green tunic and with a right wrist adorned with one golden ring, which reflects the rays of afternoon sun in all directions when the hedgehog dips his hands into the pond to cup some water into his palms. The hedgehog brings his hands up to his mouth and in an unhurried manner sips the clear water which to Shadow serves as a sign that the hedgehog hasn't noticed him yet.

Crimson eyes study the hedgehog for a moment longer, noticing the deity's slender form and toned muscles suited for a dancer, which nymphs more than often are. This is one of the most trademark signs of nymphs, along with their other-worldly voices that produce beautiful enchanting melodies that easily hypnotize any mortal or immortal that is not used to hearing such wondrous sounds.

However, the ebony warrior is still not fully sure if the hedgehog is truly a nymph—he has met enough nymphs to safely distinguish them from the other deities by a appearance alone and this one definitely fits the norm—however, there is one big problem with this nymph.

It's a male.

And he has never seen or even heard of male nymphs.

But Shadow cannot determine what else the hedgehog could be if not a nymph—as all clues are pointing in this direction—thus he decides to simply use the same plan he would use if getting a gem from a true nymph; to silently approach the deity and steal the Emerald before the hedgehog even notices his presence.

The ebony warrior slowly slides his sword back in its sheath and then crouches down to be better hidden by the surrounding bushes. Taking small quiet steps, he slowly starts to make his way over to the deity, trying to move as silently as possible so he wouldn't startle the other; nymphs have a bad habit of running away when they think somebody is around, so being loud definitely would make things more difficult—with chasing the nymph around the forest or possibly having to coax the nymph to de-transform in case he is one with shape-shifting abilities.

But just then a dry branch snaps under his left shoe and the other hedgehog's head shots up, the nymph's surprised green eyes immediately locking with his own watchful crimson ones. The ebony warrior freezes in his crouched position as he waits for the other's reaction, already mentally preparing himself for a mad chase through the forest.

But instead of running away, the blue hedgehog just stands up and, with a _genuine_ smile on his face, waves at him. "Oh, hello, there! Are you lost? I can show you the way if you need!"

Slowly straightening his back, Shadow presses his lips into a thin line, wary of the other's offer of help. Nymphs don't offer help. Never. But they are also never male. Maybe this is just another unusual thing about this nymph...

"...That gem by your feet, I've been searching for it."

For some reason this information brings a wide grin to the blue hedgehog's face.

"Oh! You must be the hero that is supposed to come challenge me for it! I was told you'll come pretty soon!"

The deity's green eyes immediately start to run him up and down, most likely to judge if he'll be a worthy opponent in whatever competition he's supposed to challenge the nymph in.

Shadow resist the urge to glare as the deity continues to study him and instead he clears his throat, planning to explain the nymph that he definitely isn't a hero in any way, but just as he's about to utter the first syllable, the deity locks their gazes, turning him dumb-stricken for a moment with the intensity of the __joy__ shining in the deity's green eyes, and thus the cobalt male has the time to speak up again.

"The rules are simple!—If you catch me it is yours! All clear? Alright then, three, two, one—GO!"

Shadow barely has the time to blink before the cobalt hedgehog zooms off with the Emerald, gaining few seconds advantage thanks to this surprise start. However, once the ebony warrior's brain finally processes what the deity has said Shadow doesn't waste even another split of second and jumps into the pursuit of the blue nymph.

He dives into the forest after the other, mindful of all the dangers of rushing through an unfamiliar territory at such speed but refusing to slow down as it could give the other enough time to escape into the depths of the forest—where Shadow would have _no_ chance of finding the nymph.

The ebony warrior brings up his hand to shield his face from the low hanging branches as he picks up speed to shorten the distance between him and the nimble nymph that seems almost as if he's dancing his way through the forest, the nymph's deep knowledge of the area visible in each move as he uses various twists, jumps and turns to travel through the forest untouched by a man—without tripping over a protruding root or even scratching himself on a low branch.

Crimson eyes intently watch the captivating show and for a moment Shadow actually forgets why he is even chasing after the nymph—the gracefulness of the deity's movements enthralling the warrior who finally realizes why some bards call nymphs the embodiment of elegance.

But when the cobalt nymph leaps over a giant boulder and disappears from his sight, the trance is destroyed and Shadow is able to focus on his task once again. The ebony warrior shakes his head to clear it, knowing he needs to stop getting distracted by the nymph if he wants to win the legendary gem.

He springs himself into the air and over the great boulder, his feet not having the time to even came fully onto the ground before he breaks into the run again, not allowing the deity the chance to get away when there is only few yards between them now.

At the heavy sound of his ironclad feet hitting the ground, the blue hedgehog looks over his shoulder—most likely to check how much distance is between them—a flash of surprise going over the deity's face. Shadow guesses that it is because the nymph has never met someone that could actually match his speed before; the blue hedgehog is definitely much faster than any other being he has met before.

Well, beside himself, of course.

However, just then the deity's lips pull into a challenging smirk and the cobalt speedster picks up his pace, his knowledge about the area making it easy for him to dodge any obstacles that are in the way even at this speed—be it a branch, a root or some other natural formation.

Unfortunately, Shadow cannot say the same, the few scratches on his face that he has gotten from low hanging branches, which he hasn't managed to exactly dodge, confirming this.

The obsidian hedgehog growls as he pushes himself to go faster, ignoring the twinges of pain as his body continues to receive scratches from the surrounding vegetation and instead focusing on finally getting hold of the blue and peach body before him.

However, the cobalt deity continues with making sharp turns and twists in random directions, the movements allowing him to escape the warrior's hold just a split of second before each possible capture as well as to continue with occasionally sending him a 'you need to work harder if you want to catch me' smirk.

But apart from Shadow the other hedgehog still has one disadvantage—he has no shoes. And there's only so fast you can go without burning your feet.

So when Shadow sees that they are heading in a straight-line towards an open plain he pushes himself to go faster and finally gets hold of the blue and peach body.

—And then is send flying when the other makes a second too late maneuver to escape and instead sends them both rolling to the ground.

But, fortunately for them, because this crash happened on a clearing and not deep in the forest, they only land on a patch of grass and not in a crown of a tree like they could have—though that still does not mean Shadow's whole body doesn't feel like if it just been hit by a horde of bulls.

Hissing, the ebony hedgehog pushes himself up, feeling pain jolt through his body as he pushes himself to sit up. He lets out a low pained groan, expecting the nymph lying beside him to do the same.

But maybe because the nymph loves to break his expectations so much the cobalt speedster instead starts to chuckle, his bubbly laugh soon echoing through the entire clearing.

Shadow just looks at the cobalt hedgehog questioningly, wondering if the other has hit his head at some point during their ungraceful landing or if he's simply missing some unvoiced joke.

As the deity's laughter dies down, the strange nymph looks up at him, peach lips stretched into a wide grin and eyes filled with mirth. "You know, you succeeded at something that even satyrs haven't managed to do! And they've tried a lot! You must want _this_ pretty badly~" the blue deity jokes as he slowly, __sensually__ , runs his fawn hands down his blue and peach-furred chest and then down his cloth-covered stomach, stopping only once they reach his lap.

Shadow snorts at the provocative gesture. There's no doubt now. The other is definitely a nymph. "I'm here for the Emerald. Nothing else," the ebony warrior replies as he gets up and makes his way to the green Chaos Emerald that has fallen few yards away from their landing spot as the cobalt speedster accidentally let go of it when he was knocked to the ground.

"Geez. Loosen up a little!" the nymph calls, sitting up. "This is your last labor, right? So, it's not like you need to rush somewhere."

"Labor?" Shadow repeats as he turns back to the nymph, confused by this random remark. A last labor? It's true that he sometimes sells his services as a freelance warrior but he isn't supposed to do any labors at the moment...

The cobalt deity gets up from the ground and starts dusting and smoothing his crumpled tunic. "You're the mighty hero Knuckles, right?"

Shadow blinks, little surprised by this question. So this was the last labor Knuckles was supposed to undertake? "...No, I am not. And Knuckles has already finished all his labors."

"What?!" the blue hedgehog calls out, his expression turning into one of pure surprise. "Then who are you?"

"My name is Shadow," the ebony warrior replies as he hides the Chaos Emerald into his head quills, knowing that like this the legendary artifact will be most protected from greedy hands and prying eyes of other people. "But I don't suppose you know me."

"Shadow?" A thoughtful look appears on the nymph's face, the expression clearly saying the hedgehog is searching his memory to find out if he has ever heard of him. But Shadow knows even without the nymph's next words that the answer will be 'no'.

"No, I've never heard of any god of such name. Of what are you god?"

However, this question is definitely not what Shadow has expected to fall from the nymph's lips. Dark brows furrow in confusion. "What gave you the idea that I'm a god?"

The cobalt hedgehog frowns in confusion, clearly not understanding why would he be asked such a question. "You outran me. You must be a god."

The ebony warrior shakes his head, chuckling. "I'm no god."

"Then are you in favor with gods that they gave you such ability?" the blue deity asks, clearly not believing his speed to be a natural ability. Which is to be expected—mortals aren't normally born with such talents.

But Shadow still has to shake his head as even this guess isn't correct. "I'm everything but in favor with," he says and the nymph raises an eye-ridge in a silent question, clearly wanting to know what exactly he means by this remark.

And so Shadow explains, "I've been cursed by the gods. I need the Chaos Emeralds to undo it."

"What did they curse you with? Inability to loosen up?" the cobalt speedster jokes as he bends down to plucks a white flower and then brings up to his nose to smell it.

"You need to stop sometimes and just enjoy the life. Otherwise it's going to slip right through your fingers..." the nymph explains as he places the plucked flower behind his blue ear, his green eyes turning to look at the ebony hedgehog.

"It is already slipping through my fingers. I don't have time to spare," Shadow replies with a frown, "I have only six months left until I die of old age because of the 'accelerated aging' curse the gods have placed on me. And because my age is already starting to show, you should understand I really don't have the time to fool around."

"You look pretty young to me," the nymph argues, walking over to him.

The cobalt speedster stops just a feet away from him and the nymph's green eyes focus on his face to study its features. A moment later one peach-furred hand reaches up and the obsidian warrior soon feels its warmth on his cheek, the deity's thumb softly running over the gradually forming old-age wrinkles around his left eye.

Strangely, he doesn't mind the nymph's touch.

Another peach hand is soon pressed against his chest—right over his heart, which the nymph must feel beating against his fawn hand, and somehow he doesn't mind this touch either.

The deity's emerald gaze slowly moves from his face down to his dark chest, the ebony warrior feeling the peach hand press into his chest a bit more.

"...You've got pretty strong muscles too," the deity muses aloud and leans closer. The blue hedgehog is now so close Shadow can feel the deity's warm breath ghost over his own lips, the sensation making him acquire sudden urge to lean forward and close the gap between them—which he, however, doesn't do.

And then emerald eyes move back up to his face. But this time they lock gazes with his own crimson ones and make him feel as if he is being drawn into their depths.

"Maybe you'd like to __stretch__ them a bit?" the blue deity asks with lips pulled into a seductive smile, one of the nymph's hand now slowly sliding down his chest to his navel while the hand that was previously laid on his cheek is leisurely being moved towards the back of his head, peach fingers running along and slightly inside his sharp quills without getting harmed...

But despite the touch being distractingly __pleasant__ , Shadow still doesn't let himself forget _what_ exactly is the person before him. A nymph that is apparently trying to seduce him for some (for him definitely not a beneficial) reason. And so he says something he knows will discourage any nymph from trying to seduce him.

"I don't bed whores."

And just as expected the cobalt hedgehog immediately lets out an offended "What?!" at the same time making a big step back. The nymph's previously calm face is now tinted red with anger, the deity's displeasure about being called such a derogatory term very clear.

"Just because I'm nymph doesn't mean I'm whore!" the blue speedster growls and then turns his back to him, crossing his peach arms to show his indignation. "I was just trying to be sly about getting back the Emerald so you would have to race me again!"

The ebony warrior stares surprisedly at the nymph before him, fascinated by the cobalt hedgehog as he has never heard any nymph admit that their kind behaves rather promiscuous; Nymphs always strongly defend themselves—or their fellow nymphs—when anybody accuses them of such behavior.

This nymph is really starting to pique his interest.

Shadow crosses his arms over his chest, his crimson eyes studying the other in curiosity. "You know," he starts and one of the blue ears turns in his direction, "you could just try to ask..."

The cobalt hedgehog doesn't turn around yet, but his voice lacks it's previous angry edge when he speaks up again.

"...And would you agree?"

"No."

"See?! That's why I needed the Emerald," the deity replies and turns around, wildly gesturing with his right hand.

"And that's why you took my money pouch," Shadow responds, locking his gaze on the left hand of the nymph that is still curled into a fist.

"Oh, you noticed?" the cobalt deity asks and his peach lips pull into playful smirk as he uncrosses his arms fully and then opens his left hand, revealing a small leather pouch. "Well, unfortunately for you, I'm not exactly in a mood to give it back. It seems you'll have to __work__ for it."

The blue speedster playfully winks at him, Shadow's eyes catching as at the same time the nymph slightly changes his stance to have a better starting position for running.

"There are only two rings in that pouch, not really something I would really want to get back," Shadow responds, the small remark immediately making the nymph's smirk disappear from his face. However, it is soon replaced by curious expression when the warrior decides to keep on talking, "...However, there are other things I would like to obtain..."

Crimson orbs shift to look into inquiring greens, Shadow unable to fight back the urge to smile at the clear eagerness in the other's eyes. "Like your name for example."

The cobalt deity returns the smile, though in his case it seems much more playful than in the warrior's. "You'll get it—but only if you catch me." And in a blink of eye the blue speedster is gone and thus starts an another game of catch-me-if-you-can.

The fact that at the end of the race Shadow learned that the nymph's name is Sonic should be enough of indication who won.


	2. Chapter 2

Sonic sighs contently as he stretches his body, enjoying the warmth of the rays of the sun falling on him from above, the softness of the green grass under his back and the caressing touch of the afternoon breeze, cooling him down so his body won't get too hot from sunbathing.

It is a perfect day, warm and tranquil, one where he can just lounge around and not having to worry about a thing—

"I see that you're enjoying yourself, hedgehog."

Snapping his eyes open, Sonic shoots up into a sitting position with speed higher than his name suggests, his heart thundering in his chest at the unexpectedness of the voice.

"Gah, Shads! Don't scare me like that!"

The ebony warrior chuckles. "Apologies. I didn't think I'd startle you so much," he says as he comes to sit down beside the nymph, laying his sword and a bag to the side so he can sit comfortably.

"You know that nymphs are jumpy. Do I need to remind you how often do fauns and satyrs try to ambush us?" Sonic asks, out of habit looking around to check neither of the two categories have appeared in the meantime.

But, nope, no hoofed perverts yet.

"I still don't understand why you didn't let me slit his throat," Shadow replies with a scowl, the last encounter with a satyr from a month ago obviously still fresh in his mind. "I'm sure all nymphs would preffer him to be gone."

"It's not right to kill people," Sonic argues, frowning at the memory of the ebony warrior almost managing to do exactly that when a particular satyr attempted to ambush him. Normally, he would have dealt with the situation by performing a well aimed kick in between the satyr's legs, which usually makes any hoofed immortal leaving him alone for at least few months, but with Shadow added into the mix the situation had been a bit more complicated.

"Plus you threatening him with cutting off his manhood if he tried anything again in the future clearly deterred him from his old ways—I haven't heard about him daring to bother any of the nymphs since then."

"I'd still preffer him dead," Shadow replies as he stood up, taking an empty water bottle from his bag. "Now, please, tell me where is the nearest pond where I can refill my bottle without having to worry about some naiads attempting to drown me."

"Drown you? You might look like an old man, but you're still more appealing than most guys around here, Shads," Sonic comments as he springs to his feet and makes a small elegant spin, sweeping the water bottle from the other's hand during the motion.

"You should worry more about them trying to seduce you than anything else," he advices, sending the warrior a small wink before turning to walk away and obtain the desired water; but a strong black arm curls around his waist and draws the blue deity against its owner's body before he can do either of those.

Sonic smiles at the familiar warmth of body he's pressed against and the butterfly-like touch of lips against his that make his eyes instinctively slip shut, his free hand moving up to cradle the base of the other's skull as they both melt into the kiss, the blissful sensation already familiar but still as pleasant as the very first time...

Man, he hasn't realized how much he has missed Shadow for these past three weeks until now.

And clearly the sentiment is the same on Shadow's part as the warrior is pressing him as close as physically possible, kissing him passionately and with need and—oh my, where are those hands going already...?

Deciding that the water bottle in his grasp is the most non-important thing at the moment, Sonic lets it drop on the ground and uses his now freed hand to return the treatment, stroking and caressing Shadow's torso while not letting himself get too distracted by the ebony hedgehog's own hands exploring his body and the pleasant warmth that the physical attention is inducing in his being...

Only when his lips are already considerably swollen—and both of their tunics are crumpled from wandering hands—does Shadow finally pull away, letting him breath but at the same time letting him wish for more of the addicting sensation of their lips and hands brushing against each other in a sensual play. Shadow can keep claiming not being a god how much he wants, but, Chaos, there is no way there isn't at least a bit of ichor running through his veins when he's capable to make him—a nymph—into a lusting mess.

And Shadow clearly knows it as the warrior gives him another quick kiss before resuming their previous conversation with an absolute nonchalance.

"Is it common among nymphs to try to steal a partner of another nymph?" Shadow inquires at which Sonic only shrugs his shoulders in response, his right hand playing with the strap of Shadow's dark army tunic that he still doesn't know why Shadow wears despite not being a member of the imperial army; though it's obviously in some way connected to the warrior's curse as that's one of the few things Shadow doesn't like to talk about.

"Faithfulness to one person is a rare thing among nymphs. Most nymphs hate the idea of being tied to one man and so they usually don't have an actual partner like mortals do and don't regard things like partnership and marriage as something that should be respected."

"And you? What about you?" Shadow asks, the question appearing nonchalant as well but the slight tensing of dark shoulders tells Sonic that is not the case here; that his answer actually matters to the ebony male as the true question is actually a bit different.

 _Do you consider us a couple or just a fling?_

"Well, I..." the deity starts with a small smile, leisurely hooking his arms around the other's neck as he presses their lower bodies closer, deeply enjoying the intent look this particular action earns him. "...I think that there is nobody with whom I desire to be more and that I'd be a fool to let anyone else have you."

And this time the kiss that he receives is searing, like the eternal flame in the furnace of the godly blacksmith Rotor—just like the scorching touch of Shadow's hands when the warrior lays him onto the ground and joins him there. And with a big smile on his face and Shadow's name on his lips, he lets the heat burn itself into his memory—to leave a mark deep, intricate and abiding that will not leave him even if he wanted it to.

~O~

A cold gust of wind washes over them, stirring Sonic awake from his shallow slumber on the forest floor and making hims open his eyes tiredly. Shadow's bare body is still tightly pressed against his own, warm and comforting, while both of their tunics remain lying in the grass few feet away from them, forgotten until they both decide to make themselves presentable again—not that they actually need to cover themselves like humans, but wearing something is still preferable.

Yawning, he turns to look at the sky. The sun is low, already slipping pass the horizon, bathing everything in shades of golden to remind all creatures that it is the time to return home and rest; though all it is doing to him is irritating his sleep-adjusted eyes.

Grimacing, he shifts in his lover's hold to face Shadow with his front instead of his back, letting the rays fall on his quill-filled back rather than into his eyes, the still sleeping warrior not really reacting anyhow to his change of position than by unconsciously tightening his hold.

Sonic gazes at the slumbering hedgehog for a moment, studying the contorts of his spell-aged visage silently before bringing up his hand to trace the wrinkles around Shadow's eye—like he has done when they first met each other. In appearance Shadow has grown at least twenty years older since that day, seemingly looking as a man nearing seventies and not a man in his late forties like he had when they met for the first time.

Seeing this change still troubles Sonic even though he knows the reason behind it—as despite his best efforts Shadow has managed to get his hands only on one Emerald in the last three months. Now the warrior has only three moths to find the other two; and even though Shadow knows that one Chaos Emerald is in the possession of Knuckles, the red-furred hero is, just as the seventh Emerald, nowhere to be found.

And he has no way to help Shadow with the search. Because of his heritage, because he's a _nymph_ , he's bound to the forest he was born in and cannot leave it; only because a certain green-furred god doesn't want any of the nymphs to have the chance of leaving his domain, the kingdom of Apotos.

He doesn't have the power to oppose gods or to break the spell that has the king of gods placed on his kind; and so the only thing he can do is to remain here, in his forest, enjoy Shadow's short visits and hope that the warrior will manage to break the spell in time.

"Why the long face?" a voice suddenly asks him, sharply drawing him from his thoughts.

Sonic blinks back into the present, realizing it is his now very-much awake lover that has asked the question.

The nymph chuckles. "Nothing. I was just thinking," he says, giving Shadow a small peck on lips as he snuggles closer to the other's warm body. "Just thinking how unfair it is that I cannot tag along with you because of the restriction spell that's on all nymphs."

"You cannot leave your birthplace, correct?" Shadow asks, his left hand lightly running over the nymph's big head quills, drawing a sleepy purr from Sonic.

"No, unfortunately."

"Can you somehow remove the spell?"

"Remove? Yeah, it is possible," Sonic replies, recalling the few times he has heard some nymphs talk about such cases—however, they are extremely rare as moving the spell always brings the wrath of Scourge on all involved.

"And how is that done?" Shadow continues his questioning, his crimson eyes now being the only thing to shine through the darkness that has fallen on the forest, the interest in them shining brightly.

"By asking the gods," the nymph replies tiredly, slightly curious at why Shadow is even so interested in the topic. "I heard about both goddess Alicia and goddess Rouge removing the spell. Goddess Alicia did so out of spite for her husband and goddess Rouge as an act of rebellion, I believe. However, I've never heard of either of them doing so twice..."

Sonic yawns, the last few words leaving him just as he slips back into the world of dreams again. "Though you'd probably have to give them a lot of sacrifices for them to consider challenging Scourge's authority again..."

~O~

This time it takes only one week for Shadow to come back—which is odd as Shadow always takes at least two weeks before visiting again. Though not as odd as the warrior's behavior; Shadow has never been a chatter-box like him, but he has been oddly quiet and a bit distant since he arrived.

"Where are we going?" Sonic questions him again.

And just like the other times the only response is: "You'll see once we get there."

Sonic huffs, the unpleasant tugging of magic at his body urging him back to the center of the forest and the heavy feeling in his stomach making him both irritated and wishing to just finally reach their destination after two hours of running.

This better be worth it.

"We're here," Shadow announces, significantly slowing down the tempo of his running before settling for a light-jog, Sonic doing the same though still not sure what this 'here' is supposed to—

Is that a temple?

For a moment Sonic just gazes at the ivory white building ahead and the lush vegetation surrounding it. It looks old and it definitely hasn't been repaired in a long time but it is no way dilapidated; maybe it's making this impression on him just thanks to the multitude of different flowers that grow all around, some of them even covering various parts of the temple walls. The combination looks very pleasant and once they reach the building he can say that even the smell of the flowers is quite nice...

He shots Shadow a questioning look. However, the ebony warrior only gestures for him to follow him into the building. With a sigh, Sonic follows him and enters the dimly lit temple, the richly decorated interior appearing very impressive despite the poor light.

He follows Shadow into the center of the temple, coming to stand before a pedestal with a marble statue of a female bat. One of the statue's arm is outstretched, palm open as if expecting a gift, while the other of the stone hands is keeping up a violet toga that is draped around her form rather haphazardly, the cloth appearing as if it is going to slip from her hold any second and reveal the goddess in all her naked glory.

Though if one were to judge from the statue's expression, one would guess this arrangement is on purpose—an intentional tease, a suggestion of a pleasant experience—things you'd expect of the goddess of love.

"Shadow, why are we in the temple of goddess Rouge?" he asks, looking around the spacious stone room. Sure, it looks nice and this is actually his first time seeing it but he'd really prefer returning to the forest before growing sick because of testing the limits of the restriction spell.

"To bargain," Shadow replies as he unties a small bag from his belt, emptying its contents onto his palm before laying them on the statue's waiting hand.

And, suddenly, the marble is replaced by a snow-white fur and tan skin. Two very much alive teal eyes turn to look at the offering—a couple of colorful jewels—with clear interest, the goddess twisting them in her fingers as she studies the gems.

Then, once she obviously decides they are a worthy gift for a goddess, she smiles and with a swipe of hand materializes a seat for herself, the jewels seemingly disappearing into a thin air because of the same action.

"Alright, hon, you've got my full attention," she announces as she sits down, putting one leg over the other as she makes herself comfortable in the luxurious magic chair. "What is that what you need?"

 _That is actually an excellent question,_ Sonic comments internally as he turns his questioning gaze back to the ebony warrior by his side. However, Shadow doesn't provide an answer, he only stands there and stares at him wordlessly for a few moments. And then he extends his arm, offering him his hand as if asking for a dance.

But the proposal that falls from his lips is not one of dance.

"Marry me."

And for a moment the world stands still for Sonic.

He blinks owlishly a couple of times, trying to make sense of the surreal situation. "What...?" he breaths, too shocked to formulate a complex thought. Shadow wants to marry him? Why? "Why would you...?"

"You said you desire to be with me and I can assure you that the feeling is mutual." Shadow makes a small pause, letting him digest the information. "If I am going to die in three months, I want to spend this time with you by my side."

The resolution is clear in Shadow's eyes and Sonic feels himself hit by a tide-wave of emotions. Excitement, anxiety, joy, nervosity, happiness, uncertainty and other emotions he just cannot remember the name of at the moment.

He feels so confused, shocked, overwhelmed—but at the same time so incredibly _happy._

And suddenly he feels his heart beating a tad bit faster, excitement welling up in the pit of his stomach as he makes that one step, as he curls his hand around Shadow's—as he accepts what the warrior is proposing with a smile on his face and a trademark laugh on his lips. "Well, if you insist."

"I do," Shadow replies as he kisses the back of Sonic's hand affectionately, letting on one of his rare smiles, crimson eyes full of warmth and adoration. And Sonic lets himself bask in the moment, in the thought that they are going to be-

"I apologize for breaking a moment, but what exactly is my role in all of this?" Rouge's voice suddenly sounds, making Sonic snap out of his momentary dreaming and both hedgehogs turn to her. "If this was about getting me to your wedding, then you definitely didn't have to bribe me, hon," she continues with a chuckle, the 'hon' clearly belonging to Shadow as the goddess' line of sight is focused on him. "Though if you ever find your marriage lacking, my offer still stands."

Shadow sighs in the 'not this again' matter, the reaction making the nymph beside him raise a brow in curiosity.

"You two know each other?" he asks, looking between the duo.

"Unfortunately," Shadow replies with a scowl, his crimson eyes glaring at the goddess in mild annoyance.

"We are _acquaintances,_ " Rouge explains with a mysterious smile, Sonic sensing there is some kind of story behind the statement. However, he decides it'll probably be left unheard, judging by what kind of scorching glare is Rouge receiving from Shadow for her comment.

Though the goddess herself appears unfazed by the glare as she doesn't really react to it; she only re-crosses her legs, briefly smoothing her violet tunic. "And because Shadow clearly doesn't want me to share the story. Mind telling me what exactly I am here for, hon?"

"He's a nymph," Shadow explains simply. "I want you to remove his restriction spell."

"Sorry, dear." Rouge sighs slightly. "But I cannot do something like that just out of familiarity—"

"I'll personally set you up with Knuckles if you remove the spell," Shadow jumps in before she can finish, determined to get what he traveled here for.

And the goddess looks _intrigued_ by the offer. She stares at the dark-furred warrior contemplatively, teal eyes intent and sparkling, for a moment before she nods with a pleased smirk.

"Deal," she says, leaning against the backrest of her seat once again. "Now get to the marriage so I can tell Scourge I actually had a reason to remove the spell if he comes to yell at me for it."

Both Sonic and Shadow nod and turn to each other. Sonic takes a deep breath to calm down his frayed nerves, a mix of excitement and nervosity now moving through his insides. So this is really happening. With interest and a bit of restlessness, he watches as Shadow slowly takes a small dagger from his belt and then presses it to his open dark palm, the edge of the weapon pushing into the flesh of the palm with a perfect amount of pressure as to not draw blood just yet.

"Do you know the marriage vow?" the warrior asks him and receives a nod in response; he has been brought up as a nymph but he has been to enough mortal marriages to already know the words by heart.

Shadow nods in acknowledgement as he takes a deep breath and Sonic copies him, the first words of the vow falling from their lips at the same time.

"Respect, loyalty and honesty is what I offer to you—"

Shadow twists the dagger to slice his palm and the warm light of surrounding torches bounces off the weapon's shiny surface into all directions, bathing all in shades of gold and orange.

"—In this era and another, in times bad and good—"

He feels Shadow handing him the dagger and he blindly grasps it, making sure to keep their gazes still locked.

"—I swear to stand by your side and fight, to protect, to never hurt you—"

He feels the edge of the dagger cutting open his palm and releasing the ichor, the blood of immortals that flows through his veins, the warmth liquid soon coating his palm.

"—if you take me as your partner in this life—"

They reach for each other, hands almost touching now as they step closer.

"—This is my promise to you."

And finally they touch and a jolt of electricity shoots up Sonic's spine. Their palms press against each other, mixing their blood into one to confirm their decision—to create a physical connection that would bond them together for all the following years in a union that is recognized even by the gods, their lives intertwined until one of them left for the underworld.

And, as promised, he soon feels the heavy curtain of magic being lifted off him as well, Rouge keeping to her word before wordlessly disappearing and letting her stone replica take her place once again.

It is the end of the ceremony. Now, he's free to go with Shadow wherever they wish, to travel and help him find the Chaos Emeralds and break his _husband's_ curse.

Sonic knows he should feel ecstatic about the situation—but a realization, a fact that he has just remembered, makes a wave of dread and horror wash over him instead.

Ichor is deadly toxic to mortals.

But he can only stand and stare in confusion. As there is no mortal convulsion on Shadow's part, no pain filled screams and not even a sign of discomfort from the other male. The ebony warrior just stands there, looking content and pleased with how all turned out.

And when Shadow lets go of his hand, there's not a single streak of crimson blood on the ebony warrior's palm, only a mix of golden and even the blood leaving the cut on Shadow's hand is _golden_ , few shades paler than his own, but still golden.

And Sonic stares, shocked.

"Wait—You're not a mortal...?"


	3. Chapter 3

"You know, gold is a very nice color," Sonic starts as he throws his tunic over a low hanging branch. His shoes follow soon after and a mere moment later, he is already standing in the crystal clear water of the the creek, submerged to the ankles in the cold element. "And many things have this color. Sun, flowers, jewels, ichor..."

Knowing where this is leading, Shadow only sighs in exhaustion. "Sonic, please, don't start with this again..."

"Why not?" The cobalt nymph turns around, the fawn lips now curled in an angry scowl. "'Respect, loyalty and _honesty_ , Shadow,'" the nymphs emphasizes, referring to their weeding vow, "that is what you've promised me."

"I want to be honest," Shadow argues, tan lips pressing into a thin line briefly, "but if I tell you, things between us might never be the same again."

"They won't ever be even if you don't tell me," Sonic replies, blue ears briefly pressing against head in discontent, "because then I'll know I've married a _liar_."

The ebony warrior frowns. "In order to be a liar, I'd first have to tell a lie."

"Tell a lie, not say the truth. What's the difference, really?" Sonic shrugs his shoulders as he cups some of the water into his palms and takes a sip. "Either way it's still dishonesty."

Letting out another heavy sight, the warrior stands up from the hard flat stone that he has chosen as his sitting spot while Sonic bathed. He makes a quick work of his weapon belt and his metal shoes, and then throws them to the ground before approaching the sulking nymph in the center of the small stream.

"I haven't meant to upset you," Shadow starts as he wraps his arm around Sonic's middle from behind, pressing a kiss to the nymph's right shoulder. The blue speedster doesn't really protest against the action, but doesn't really react to it anyhow either, which Shadow presumes is meant to show him that his husband is still mad with him but at the same time cannot really fight the natural nymph desire to be touched. "I just think that you knowing my heritage would do more bad than good."

"How exactly?" Sonic asked, finally giving into his instinct and leaning against the other's sturdy body with a sigh. "You're immortal. I'm immortal. We, all know the family relations between immortals are completely fucked up in most cases." Sonic turns around and loops his arms around the other's neck. "So, what's the secret you're so adamant about hiding? Father's a pervert god that cannot keep it in under his toga and Mom's some kind of a mortal-turned-beast?"

Shadow snorts at the way too accurate description of most demigods' parents. "Am I supposed to expect something like that on your family reunion?"

Sonic chuckles. "Nah. My heritage is not so complicated. Mom's a nymph, Dad's a mortal. Simple as that." The blue and peach speedster presses his forehead against the other's, green eyes staring into blood-red ones. "So, what about your parents?"

"I never really had any. Well, at least practically."

Sonic quirks his brow.

"You see, I wasn't born..." Shadow makes a pause, hesitating if to reveal this information and then decided that, yes, he should, as Sonic deserves to know—he gave a promise, after all. "...I was made."

"Made?" Sonic furrows his eye-ridges in confusion. "What exactly do you mean by 'made'?"

"Exactly, what the word means." Shadow takes a deep breath. This is it. "An alchemist made me with the use of an ancient titan's ichor."

"Wait...so you're a _titan_?" Sonic asks, his face twisting in puzzlement as green eyes look him up and down. "But you're not tall."

"Being a titan has nothing to do with height. Giants are the tall ones."

"But titans are very powerful."

"Indeed."

The nymph frowns. "No offense, Shads, but in all the time I have known you, you haven't really done anything that much," Sonic gestures with his hand, trying to to find the correct words, "...spectacular _._ "

"I know." Shadow sighs and raises his free hand, crimson eyes briefly darting to the golden ring that was around his wrists, three identical replicas adorning the other wrist and both ankles as well. "Because I cannot."

As he has noticed the warrior fleeting gaze, Sonic runs his thumb over the smooth surface of Shadow's left ring that until now he has believed was supposed to be just a piece of jewelery. "These rings are part of the curse as well?"

"They are the curse."

Sonic raises his gaze from the metal bands, a questioning expression on his face.

"My creator made them for me so they would help me channel and store chaos energy better so it would be easier for me to perform chaos techniques," Shadow explains, "Before, I could take them off whenever I wished. But now they cannot be opened and instead of helping me are draining all of my chaos energy and are thus slowly killing me. Aging is just a mere side effect."

"They are taking your life-force away..." Sonic murmurs quietly as he absently strokes the arc of the ring. "Have you tried removing them in some other way?"

"Of course," Shadow says, "none of them was successful as you can see."

"Hmm..." The cobalt speedster furrows his brows in a deep thought, most likely trying to think of extreme way to possibly split the rings. "I guess we'll have to find the Chaos Emeralds then..."

"Yes, we'll have to. So finish your bath quickly so we can return to searching," Shadow finishes and gives the other a quick kiss before turning to walk away so the other can finish his bath in peace.

"Wait a minute!" Sonic suddenly calls and Shadow turns around, raising an eye-brow questioningly. "A god is always an offspring of a titan, and if you're technically a child of a titan, it means you're god as well!" Sonic announces with a grin. Crossing his arms over his bare peach chest, the cobalt deity smirks. "Now, what were you saying about _not_ being a god?"

Shadow chuckles and shakes his head. "Being a child of titan doesn't immediately make you a god, hedgehog."

"What does then?"

"Being a child of a titan, ruling from the Sacred Mountain and having very obscure powers that allow you to transform people into roaches or other vermin."

"Well," Sonic smiles as he slowly squats down, submerging his hands into a water with a smirk on his lips, "I guess it's better you don't have such powers because otherwise you could punish me for this."

Shadow starts to turn around. "For what—?"

And suddenly the warrior finds himself very _very_ drenched from head to toe.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you're wet now." Sonic's smirk turns into an 'innocent' smile as he approaches the other. He grabs hold of Shadow's soaked toga, wringing the dark material slightly to make some of the liquid escape for emphasis. "Who could have known me taking a bath would have such an _effect_ on you," he comments with a smirk as he rubs their noses together, green eyes sparkling mischievously. "What do you say about returning the favor?"

"With pleasure," Shadow growls in response, eyes flashing dangerously before the warrior puts his hand on the nymph's hips and pulls the blue deity closer.

" _Ah_ , it will be with pleasure." Sonic sniggers as he feels the familiar hot touch of Shadow's mouth on his jugular and in response he tilts his head to give the other more area to work on. "Definitely~"

~O~

"You really need to try this one, Shads! It's _amazing!_ " Sonic shouts, a beaming smile on his face as he emerges from the mass of people and throws an arm over Shadow's shoulder, shoving yet another goblet of wine right under his partner's nose. It is either seventh or eighth time in last ten minutes; Shadow kind of stopped counting somewhere around the fourth cup. "It's sweet and spicy at the same time. But don't let it fool you, it's also—!"

Shadow chuckles and gently pushes the offered cup away and instead takes a mouthful out of his own. "I take it as that you're enjoying festival."

"Of course! It's freaking awesome!" Sonic announces with a smile, taking a swig from the goblet when Shadow does not want to have a taste. "Especially, the wine! No one really grew grapes back in my home region, you know? It was just olives, olives and olives. Occasionally, wheat—though that was also rare. So, yeah, we didn't really have that much wine."

Shadow hums in acknowledgement as he takes another swig of his wine, from the corner of his eyes studying Sonic. It is obvious that his husband is already getting a bit affected by all the alcohol—he has a slightly flushed cheeks and his walk has also gotten a bit clumsier.

Though it would be more surprising if Sonic wasn't affected after full _seven_ goblets of wine.

"You should slow down with the wine, Sonic. There's no need for you to get drunk twenty minutes after we arrived," Shadow advises him, eyes moving to look over the assembly; the festival has already gotten rather wild with the surfeit of wines and other alcoholic beverages that vintners have brought to the summer festival. People were already dancing, chatting, starting fights and 'hiding' in the forest to do _other_ things that their sober selves were definitely going to regret in the morning...

But, unfortunately, the reason why they have came here in the first place is still nowhere in sight.

"Immortal, remember?" Sonic nudges his side, grinning widely. "It takes more than few cups of wine for us to get drunk. You should know that yourself."

Shadow sighs. "You're drinking too much even for an immortal, so slow down or I'll have to take measures."

"And what will you do if I don't listen? Bend me over and spank me?" Sonic asks, a cheeky grin playing on the nymph's lips as he once again presses a cup to them, a playful defiance radiating off the cobalt deity in waves.

"Even though the idea is tempting..." Shadow lets an amused grin to show on his lips. "I wouldn't as I know it would not be effective in your case. It'd be more likely to motivate you than deter you..."

"Well, what would be the point of playing with fire if you don't have any burns to show for it?" Sonic comments with a smirk as he uncurls from his side with an elegant spin, downing his goblet mid-motion before once again locking gazes with him and winking at him.

"You should not taunt a snake with bare hands, hedgehog," the warrior replies as he makes a step forward and wraps an arm around the nymph's thin waist, bringing his husband close. Unsurprisingly, Sonic doesn't try to fight the physical contact and instead leans in, pressing his slender blue and peach body against Shadow's own. "Unless you wish to get bitten, of course."

"I may actually," Sonic responds with a smile, curling his arms around the dark neck as he presses their lips together. The kiss is nor gentle nor rough but with an obvious desire in it, the taste of wine which dominates it making it easy for Shadow to guess why.

But suddenly the cobalt one is giggling like a maniac, one peach hand pushing him away. "Hey! Slow down, Shad! Don't want me to drag you behind a nearest tree, do you?" Sonic asks with an amused grin as he grips the dark hand which had moved from Sonic's waistline to cup the nymph's rear instead—all without Shadow's conscious involvement. It seemed the wine was getting a bit into his head as well. "I'm sure it would be quiet a show for everybody around but we have a mission. Remember?"

Sonic being the rational one around here? Yes, the wine is definitely getting to his head. It seems the deity isn't the only around here that needs to slow down.

...Though that doesn't mean he's still not scolding Sonic. "You're a damn tease, hedgehog."

"I'm well aware, but thank you for reminding me." Sonic grins his usual blinding smile as he sets his cup on a nearby table, green eyes scanning the surrounding quickly—most likely to see if the male they are waiting for hasn't appeared already by any chance.

But, no, the echidna hero is still nowhere in sight; they need to find the strongman so they could get the Chaos Emerald back from him and to convince him to help them with finding the last one—there is almost no time left and Knuckles is well-known for being an expert treasure-hunter.

"Hey, Shads, how do you even know Knuckles' gonna be here?" Sonic asks suddenly, drawing the ebony warrior from his thoughts.

"Where is wine, there are heroes," Shadow responds simply, "and given this festival just started, Knuckles definitely couldn't have already gotten tired of it and moved elsewhere—he'll come. We just have to wait."

"Well, whatever you say," Sonic replies, clearly not really convinced by this logic but not arguing. The deity himself hasn't really met any heroes yet during his first two month of being free to wander, so he cannot really know whether he's right or wrong. "Do you want to dance while we wait? We've never danced together before, you know."

Shadow takes a moment to ponder the offer, his red eyes darting at the 'dance-floor' where many people were attempting to dance, 'attempting' being the important word.

"...I suppose," Shadow says in the end and places his own goblet beside the nymph's. The deity gives him a blinding smile and grabs his hand to tug him towards the plaza before he can change his mind.

They choose a spot at the very edge of the dance-floor; both to have some room to dance and also so the other—mostly drunk—pairs won't constantly bump into them. The musicians have already switched from playing energetic music to playing a more ballad-like song, obviously realizing that calmer music will significantly reduce the chance of the drunk dancers accidentally hitting each other in the face when none of them will feel the urge to flail their arms wildly.

Sonic continues to grin even as they start to move in sync with the slow rhythm, mindful of each other's slightly intoxicated state and thus not doing any abrupt movements that could potentially send either of them sprawling onto the ground. They slowly twist and turn in accordance to the song, warm hands touching tenderly and bodies brushing together on occasion.

It feels perfect.

...but it isn't.

"We must look odd like this," Shadow says suddenly, breaking the silence between them, crimson eyes surveying their surroundings. "...me, an old man, and you, a young lad."

"Oh, come one, you're not old! Yeah, your fur is getting a bit gray, but it suits you," Sonic argues, peach hand coming to caress the slightly grayish quills of the warrior's head, red-blood eyes turning to look back at the blue deity because of the action. "Plus this is Apotos, Shads. This kind of thing is normal around here."

The obsidian warrior frowns. "Then why are people staring?"

Sonic raises a questioning eye-ridge and looks around, noticing a quite of bit people blatantly staring their way. He turns to his still scowling partner and shrugs his shoulders. "It's probably just because of your attire. After all, the capital is quite far so people are questioning what an imperial soldier is doing around here."

"Hmm..." Shadow is not really convinced by the explanation but he's pondering the possibility.

"Well, now when we are talking about this—why do you even wear an imperial uniform?" Sonic asks, "is it just a fashion choice? Or is there an actual reason for it?"

Shadow makes an amused sound at the back of his throat. "You would be surprised how easy it is to make people spill secrets just thanks to wearing an uniform."

"Oh?" Sonic raises his brow in surprise. "So, you wear this to induce the feeling of authority?"

"Basically said—" Shadow starts as he grips Sonic by the waist, pulling the blue deity closer as he begins spinning them in circle, "—yes."

"That's a neat trick." Sonic grins, his hold on the dark body tightening a bit to adjust to the sudden change of momentum, legs stumbling a bit because of the different tempo. "Did it help you with finding the Emeralds?"

"Significantly."

"Hmm," Sonic hums as he leans in a bit closer to the other hedgehog, using his body as a support, laying his head on the warrior's shoulder. Why is the world swimming so suddenly? It's making him feel dizzy... "Maybe you could try using it even here—Ya know, to find out if somebody hasn't seen Knux around?"

"While you take a nap?" Shadow suggests with a hint of amusement in his voice, noticing his partner's apparent struggle with coordination and keeping upright. Plus the redness of Sonic's cheeks is an obvious tell-tale sign as well.

"...sounds like a good idea," Sonic mumbles just as Shadow stops spinning them. They only stand there for a minute, Shadow letting the other have a moment of stillness so he could re-orientate himself in the space again.

Though it's apparent, Sonic doesn't really feel like moving on his own anytime soon, the cobalt deity still leaning on him heavily even after this moment passes.

"...Hey, Shads, don't you wanna carry me by any chance?" the deity asks suddenly, not moving from his position.

Shadow rolls his eyes. "My body is now technically over eighty years old, hedgehog," he reminds the other, "you think I'm risking hurting my back because of your laziness?"

"Had to try it." Sonic shrugs his shoulders and grins as he gives him a peck on the cheek, smiling gently. The deity rests his arm around Shadow's shoulders as a way to stabilize himself. "Just help me get over to that bench, will ya?"

Shadow lets out a sigh and rolls his eyes, but truly helps him to the aforementioned bench. It's bit secluded from the rest and nobody is really there, but Shadow believes it is better this way anyway; at least it will be easier to keep an eye on Sonic even from distance when no other people will be blocking the view.

The moment they reach the bench, Sonic immediately slumps down on the wooden furniture, putting his arms under his head as a make-shift pillow, his eye-lids slipping shut no longer after. "Yeah, this is... per...fe..." Sonic mumbles, the sentence left unfinished as he dozes off on the very bench without any previous warning.

Shadow looks amusedly at the scene before shaking his head and making move to return to the main table. Sonic clearly isn't going anywhere and that leaves some space to go around and ask people whether they haven't seen Knuckles by any chance.

There is a big variety of people already feasting and talking animatedly at the table when he reaches it. He only stands there and studies the various discussing groups, trying to determine which of them look most sober and thus could provide most accurate information.

He picks a group at the very front and gently interrupts their conversation, questioning whether they know anything about Knuckles' possible whereabouts. Unsurprisingly, all of their answers are negative ones and thus he moves to another group, asking the same question.

It is about eight people later, he notices that Sonic is no longer where he should be. The flash of blue that can be seen moving through the crowd and flash of mischievous green eyes easily tells him what is the hedgehog up to now.

...somehow he's not surprised at all.

~O~

"Would you like some more wine?"

Sonic stops dancing and twists at the sound of unfamiliar voice, stumbling a bit in his surprise. A young female bunny in pinkish dress is standing before him, the young woman holding a jug of wine in her hands. He stares wordlessly at her for a moment and so she repeats her earlier words. It takes Sonic's drunken mind a moment to process the offer.

"Yeah, sure." Sonic shrugs his shoulders and offers his goblet so she could fill the cup with the beverage. The girls smiles and pours him a generous amount of the great wine and the disappears back into the depths of the dancing crowd, surely instructed to offer the wine to everyone.

Sonic takes a sip from his cup and lets the wine roll on his tongue for few seconds before gulping the liquid down, the bitter aftertaste of alcohol left at the back of his throat. However, despite his dislike for bitter things the nymph still downs the goblet in record time.

 _It's time for some fun._

With a smile on his face, Sonic sets the goblet on the floor and dives into the crowd of the dancers. He looks around curiously, trying to spot whether his husband is somewhere in the mass and in the end spotting the ebony warrior on the main table. Shadow looks towards the bench he had left him and for a brief moment the obsidian male looks confused by not seeing him there. The warrior immediately turns around to look for him and soon their gazes lock.

Knowing Shadow's full attention is on him, Sonic smirks and starts to gently sway in accordance to the song again, working his hips and torso and moving his arms in gentle waves, imitating an oriental dancer that he has seen performing on a street while he and Shadow were in Spagonia searching for the last Emerald. And, boy, it seems to be working—

Until a group of dancers blocks the view and ruins everything.

 _Oh, come on—_ "Hey, nice dance! Mind showing it to me again in my room?"

Sonic rolls his eyes at the typical satyr-like comment that has just sounded somewhere from behind him. He turns around at the unfamiliar male voice, planning to give the guy a glare and possibly a piece of mind as well— "Look, pal, that's not—"

Male. An echidna. Red fur. Armed and looking a way too bit like an adventurer.

...Knuckles. Accompanied by a purple-colored weasel that Sonic supposes is the originator of the remark.

Well, two of them according to his vision.

The weasel looks him up and down, his previously arrogant smirk changing into a perplexed expression. "...You're not a girl," the weasel blurts out, clearly surprised by the fact, "...to be honest, you look much better from behind," the weasel continues, his brain-to-mouth filter apparently completely destroyed by the alcohol.

Though Knuckles clearly doesn't have the same problem as the echidna opens his mouth, clearly planning to save the situation but Sonic speaks up before he can even utter the first syllable.

"You know, I would slap you for the comment if I knew which of the two is you." Sonic gestures to both of the weasels in his vision, truly having no idea which of them is the real one. "So consider yourself lucky that I'm only gonna steal your companion. Knux, Shadow needs to speak with you."

Somehow Sonic manages to get a hold of the hero's forearm. Chaos knows how he managed to do that with everything in his vision swimming. He starts to pull the stronger male towards the place he had last seen Shadow at; the echidna doesn't resist the pull and instead follows his lead, clearly surprised by the sudden turn of events.

"Wait, you know Shadow?" the echidna questions, clearly puzzled; Shadow is not a very social person let's be honest about that. "Shadow the Hedgehog?"

"Sure, I do." Sonic shrugs his shoulders. "I'm his husband."

"You're his _what_?!"

However, the nymph doesn't react anyhow to the...question? Exclamation? Sonic honestly doesn't care what it is. He just focuses on getting the echidna towards the main table.

"Hey, Shad, I've found Knuckles!" Sonic announces with a broad smile as he spreads his widely arms like salesman presenting its newest product. The obsidian warrior immediately turns to them, eyes widening slightly at the sight of the red-furred hero.

However, the first to react is not him but Knuckles.

"What? Wait...Shadow?" the hero asks, clearly shocked by the other's appearance. Which is no surprise as the last time they had seen each other, Shadow looked sixty years younger. "What happened to you?!"

"Aging curse," Shadow answers simply. "To remove it, I need the Chaos Emerald I gave you and the other six. I already have five and to find the last I'll need your help—consider it as returning a favor."

"Oh, sure, I just need to finish a labor for the city mayor and—"

"I only have six weeks to finish this, echidna," Shadow cuts in, ruby eyes turning hard. "I don't have _any_ time to spare."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:** **Alright, guys, fasten your seatbelts this is gonna be a ride! Also maybe get some tissues! I mean these can always come in handy, right? *totally not acting suspicious***

* * *

"Most of the villagers said they had seen the beast," Knuckles confirms as he sits down before the small campfire that Shadow and Sonic have set up while he was gone. "It's likely that the rumors about it guarding the Chaos Emerald are true as well."

"Did you learn where the cave is supposed to be?" Shadow asks as he adds more wood into the fire, keeping the flame stable so their dinner can finish cooking.

"Ten miles to the east. Near the river bank."

Shadow's lips press into a thin line as he mulls over this new information. Getting there will take less than hour with their speed, so they can definitely stay the night... "We'll set off in the morning, once the sun is up," he decides.

Knuckles nods in acknowledgement to the decision and silence settles over them. The cracking of fire and chirping of insects being the only things that disrupt the quietness of the night. However, neither of the two warriors mind; apart from Sonic, who'll talk all the time unless stopped, neither Shadow nor Knuckles find such a delight in conversation. Thus when it is only the two of them—and there is nothing important to discuss—they will just slip into a companionable silence in which they stay until Sonic comes back from wherever he has wandered off to and resumes his endless telling of amusing stories and jokes.

The ebony warrior glances in the direction of where he saw Sonic disappear to. Few minutes ago, Sonic has excused himself and went to freshen up in the river like he does every other day. It's an odd ritual, considering Sonic's general dislike for water, however it is undoubtedly necessary; nymphs obtain their life energy from the nature around them—and obviously washing oneself in a river or a lake is the easiest and fastest way to get the necessary energy.

"So you're married, huh?" Knuckles suddenly breaks the silence, the echidna for the very first time since the summer festival bringing this topic up again. "You don't really seem like the type who'd want to marry, you _know—_ considering your dislike of people in general..."

"I didn't really think about marriage much until I met Sonic," Shadow confesses as he shifts to sit more comfortably, resting his back against the tree behind him, red eyes glancing up to stare at the star-covered midnight sky. "But as the time went on, I started to... _warm_ up to the idea."

"Of course, you did!" Sonic remarks loudly as he finally emerges from the bushes behind which he has disappeared earlier. The nymph flops down beside Shadow, bumping their shoulders together playfully.

"I mean who wouldn't want such a dashing hedgehog as me as their husband?" Sonic makes a downward sweeping motion with his hand, gesturing to his entirety. "After all, I'm perfection personified!"

"I think a few goddesses would like to have a word with you about that," Knuckles mutters, but Sonic can see the corners of the hero's mouth twitching in amusement at his remark.

"To ask some beauty advice?" Sonic asks, his smile seemingly stretching even wider. "Then I'll unfortunately have to disappoint the ladies. I have no advice. All of this is completely natural! No magic or anything else involved! Shadow can confirm that." He repeats his earlier gesture and then turns to his husband with a smirk. "He's got a _first-hand_ experience."

"It's true," Shadow confirms with a soft smile on his face and an amused twinkle in his eyes, as he curls an arm around Sonic's waist to pull the nymph closer by the hip, the cobalt speedster eagerly leaning into the contact and thus allowing the ebony warrior to press a small kiss to his temple.

Shadow's lips pull into a thin line as he remembers something. "Speaking of magic..." The warrior turns to the echidna, ignoring the low whine of protest Sonic gives at not being paid attention anymore as he gestures to the talisman that is hanging from the warrior's neck. "I've noticed your amulet. May I take a look?"

"This?" Knuckles asks as he palms the aforementioned amulet, a surprised raised brow accompanying the action, the hero clearly unsure why it interested him. "...Sure," he agrees in the end, seeing no harm in letting Shadow take a look.

Slowly, the echidna removes the protective charm and hands it over to Shadow. The ebony warrior takes the item gingerly, Sonic immediately leaning in to take a look too.

"Your creation?" the obsidian warrior asks as his fingers brush over the engraved metal, sensing the soft buzz of magic resting inside the charm; it's truly artfully crafted and whoever made it has to have an intricate understanding of chaos to be able to transform it into this kind of magic.

"No. It's a concealment spell gifted to me by one young skilled artisan from capital." So it _is_ what Shadow suspected it to be. "He gave it to me when I told him about my problem with the goddess of love."

"Rouge has taken a liking to you, hasn't she?" Shadow asks even though he already knows the answer; he's the unfortunate person to whom the goddess goes to complain when her love escapades don't go as planned.

Sonic gives him a questioning side-look, his husband well aware that he has no reason to ask questions like these—he knows the answers. Shadow gives the nymph a glance of 'just play along' variety before focusing back on the red-furred immortal before them.

Sonic raises his brow but doesn't say anything. Instead the nymph reaches for one of the grilled fishes that are roasting above the fire, planning to dine while the other two speak.

"Unfortunately," Knuckles confirms, lips twisting into an unhappy scowl. "Until I got the amulet, the bat kept on bothering me almost every day." The echidna takes another of the fishes, briefly checking whether it is finished cooking before biting into it. "She's a very adamant," he adds with a frown after he swallows the bite down.

"She is," Shadow agrees as he reaches for the last unclaimed fish, the amulet dangling loosely from his hand. Green eyes grow wide as Sonic realizes what he's about to do. "Very _adamant_."

Then he lets go of the amulet.

"Hey—!" Knuckles is just a bit too slow to catch the talisman before it's trapped inside the impenetrable barrier of flesh-scorching heat, getting devoured by the flames. Flinching his singed hand away, Knuckles' face twists in anger. "Why did you—?!"

And suddenly there's one person more.

"Long time no see, hon~" With a grin, Rouge leans against the agitated warrior's side, ignoring the startled jerk he gives at her sudden appearance. "Did ya miss me?"

Knuckles turns to gaze at her, unblinking, most likely trying to convince himself that she's gonna disappear if he stares long enough. When that doesn't happen, he turns to Shadow and snarls, "I want an explanation! Now!'"

Shadow shrugs his shoulder. "You owe favor to me, I owe favor to her. I'm just paying back my debt like you are."

"Debt, you say?" The red immortal grits his teeth, lips pressing into a thin line as he turns to Rouge with an angry scowl. "Alright, what kind of jewels do you want, _bat girl_? Rubies? Emeralds? _Diamonds_? What's your price for finally leaving me alone?"

"One night to change your mind," Rouge replies as she flicks the echidna's nose playfully. Knuckles immediately rears back from the touch.

A frown mars the echidna's face as he brushes a hand over his abused nose. "I'm giving you ten minutes at maximum."

"Half a night?"

"Ten minutes."

"Two hours? My final offer."

"Ten—" Knuckles is about to rebuke the offer but then he realizes that it's actually not as bad; he only has to tolerate the goddess for two more hours to finally get her from his life. _Permanently_. " _Fine_ , have your two hours. But after that I'm chasing you away with a stick if necessary."

"I'll grow on you before the two hours are up—trust me." A wide smile stretches across the goddess' face. "Now have some mead. It'll help you loosen up." Rouge flicks her wrist and suddenly every free hand has a goblet of mead in its grasp. "I'm sure you'll find it to your taste."

"Sweet!" With a grin, Sonic toasts the female and takes a sip, his grin stretching even wider at the delicious taste. "You better keep her, Knux," he advices the warrior just as he takes another sip, pointedly ignoring when Knuckles sends him a glare for the remark.

Sonic leans against his husband's side, gazing at the talking duo, amused. Knuckles is quickly chugging down his drink—after all, it's always easier to deal with people you don't like while drunk—and Rouge looks both frustrated and amused by it. However, she doesn't comment on Knuckles' drinking habits anyhow and instead she just utters a remark that makes Knuckles' face match his fur color quicker than even alcohol could as well as causes him to sputter his drink all around.

Sonic chuckles and quickly hides his grin behind his cup when Knuckles turns to glare at him for it. Only once the echidna is once again reluctantly paying attention to Rouge, the nymph dares to let his voice to be heard again—but this time only by his husband.

"You know, now when I think about it, I never really asked you what you had been punished for," he mutters quietly, glancing at Shadow before eyeing the other's mead-filled cups with a small grin. "Neither if you're actually old enough to drink."

Shadow snorts at the remark. "Actually, I'm sixty-nine."

Sonic spurts out his mead in shock, coughing a bit before he manages to get out a surprised—"What?!"

"I spent fifty years as a stone statue." The warrior shrugs his shoulders, taking a sip from his goblet. "Nothing significant."

"Nothing significant?" Sonic blinks owlishly. "...Shadow, I really need you to do some explaining. Like right _now_."

Shadow gazes at the other hedgehog contemplatively, musing if he should disclose this information; it could lead to lot of questions and that could lead to recalling...painful memories.

But then again this is _Sonic_ , who's asking, and he deserves to know as his husband...

"...Have you ever heard of Medusa?"

"Yeah, I heard about her," Sonic says. "She was the one that turned you into a stone?"

"Yes." Shadow sighs, setting his empty cup on the ground to use his now free hand to gesture with. "Originally my punishment was getting turned into a stone for all eternity by Medusa. However, an alchemist came around and got me out of it, so an aging curse was placed on me instead."

"Your punishment? For what?" Sonic questions, eyes vigilant and full of interest despite the alcohol that is already flowing through his veins.

"I stole...ambrosia."

"Ambrosia?! Really?" Sonic asks, eyes wide in surprise and astonishment. "How in the name of Chaos had you managed that? And more importantly—why? You were already immortal."

Shadow sighs, something pained flashing in his eyes. "The ambrosia was not for me but my...sister."

Sonic blinks in surprise. "You never told me you have a sister."

" _Had_ a sister," Shadow corrects the other, ignoring the stab of pain it brings him. "Her name was Maria and she was sister to me in everything but blood. She was a joyous lively girl but she had been deadly sick since birth and her health was getting progressively worse over time—I hoped that ambrosia could save her. However..." He takes a deep breath and turns his gaze to the starry midnight sky, pushing on with the story despite all the painful memories of the fateful night.

"While I was obtaining the ambrosia for her, the imperial army had swarmed my home village and set it on fire...When I came back, it was already too late to do anything—even the soldiers were long gone. The only thing I could do was watch as my village burned down to the ground until only ashes remained. When the dawn came, so did my punishment." Shadow makes a small pause. "I'm sure I could have escaped it if I tried, but at the time I didn't have the will— _reason_ —to fight and so I simply accepted my fate."

"Shadow..." Sonic lays his hands on Shadow's, trying to provide the comfort that he knows the warrior so desperately needs even if Shadow tries not to show it; he himself knows what it's like to lose someone dear.

Taking a deep breath, Sonic pushes away his own painful memories to tend to his husband's already re-opened, hurting wounds. "...Did you ever learn why the soldiers destroyed your home?"

"A royal oracle told the emperor that there were rebels planning to dethrone and kill him and that they were hiding in my village. But it was not true. The vision which the oracle received was conjured of lies."

Sonic raised a brow. "How did you find that out?"

"An oracle of Rouge's told me," Shadow mutters quietly and finally redirects his gaze from the sky back, and briefly turns it to the aforementioned goddess. "Though the oracle nor Rouge ever explained why Scourge sent the false vision in the first place." Shadow glances back at him. "Rouge either doesn't know or is bound to silence by magic. And knowing how much she likes to stick her nose into other people's business, it's probably the latter," he scoffs, though the sound is suddenly cut off in his throat when his expression suddenly twists into a grimace and his hand shoots up to clutch at his chest as if in pain.

Worry flashes over Sonic's face. "What's happening?" he asks, quickly putting away his unfinished meal and cup and then placing a hand on his husband's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

It's a long moment until Shadow finds the power to answer. "It's just, _ugh_ , just a bit of pain," he hisses through clenched teeth, closing his eyes and letting out a rough exhale. "It'll go away soon."

The speedster stares for a moment before— "What? Why haven't you told us?!" Sonic snaps, his expression now a criss-cross of worry and anger. "We don't have to wait for tomorrow, we can travel immediately—!"

"Neither you nor Knuckles will be of any use if you're too tired to fight," Shadow interjects, a frown finding its way to his face once again as he peers at the other from the corner of his eye. "And I'm in no condition to fight—rested or not. We'd be fools to rush in there right now."

"And how can we know that tomorrow won't be too late?" Sonic shoots back, a scowl marring his face. "If you're in pain already..."

"I've been in pain for a week now, Sonic, and I don't feel like I'm about to drop dead just yet," Shadow deadpans, ignoring the worried gaze Rouge sends him in his peripheral vision at the remark and instead focusing in the hedgehog beside him. "I'm going to last until tomorrow—we still have fortnight to get the last emerald. Don't worry."

Sonic doesn't seem completely convinced but his expression still softens. "If you dare to die on me before that time, I'm chasing your butt in the underworld, you got that?" the nymph asks as he slumps back into his previous position, reaching for his cup. "And gods forbid you're already dating someone else by the time I get there. You still owe me a proper honey-moon."

"Hunting for emeralds in Spagonia wasn't enough for you?" Shadow asks with a small smirk as he leans in close, pressing a placating kiss to the spot right below Sonic's ear; the nymph may not appear angry anymore but Shadow knows Sonic well enough to not fall for the act; he's still got some patching-up to do. "You seemed to be enjoying our stay there quite a lot."

Sonic snickered at the remark, the corner of his lips twitching ever so slightly. "I did but—I'd appreciate a bit more rolling in the sheets." He winks as he takes a sip of his drink.

"We rolled in the grass a lot," Shadow points out, taking his own goblet into his hand.

"We did," Sonic replies with a grin as he relaxes against the other's body, relishing in the physical closeness, feeling warm and comfy in the other's embrace—though the campfire might be partly responsible for that too. "But I'd really like to do it in a bit more often."

"We can rent a room in a tavern after we get the seventh emerald," Shadow offers, well aware that Sonic's feeling a bit... _frustrated_ these days; nymphs are well known for their drive and, unfortunately, it's no longer physically possible for Shadow to keep up with it because of the curse aging up his body—his magicked up nearly hundred years just cannot compete with Sonic's twenty. "Though they'll probably throw us out ten minutes later because of you screaming like last time..." he adds with a smirk.

"Think you can do that in five this time?" Sonic asks with a grin, more amused than embarrassed that he was the reason they had gotten thrown out; he's lived in a forest with dozens of other nymphs and fauns for all his life, situations like these happened all the time.

Shadow's eyes darken at the suggestive inquiry. "Definitely."

Sonic winks and lays a quick peck on the warrior's lips. "I'll look forward to it then."

~O~

The beast falls to the ground with a heavy thud, no longer a living manifestation of nightmares but instead a mass of blood-matted fur and cut up dead flesh, its big dark lifeless eyes staring sightlessly at its conquerers.

"We did it..." Sonic's shoulders heave as he speaks, his body trembling and hands shaking as he tries not to drop the sword in his hands. His eyes travel over the beast's prone form to the treasure it had been guarding, the sight of the legendary gem now being free to take making his mouth stretch into a big smile. "This is it!"

Despite his fatigue, Sonic quickly makes his way to the pedestal with the shining purple Chaos Emerald—the last piece of the set. His trembling fingers curl around the legendary gem, his own reflection flashing in the smooth surface for the briefest of moments as he picks it up from its marble pedestal.

"We did it, guys! We have all seven!" he exclaims with a big smile, triumphantly raising the emerald into the air and holding it there until he reaches the others again.

"Now start the magic show, Shad," he says with a grin as he places the jewel into Shadow's own shaking hands, the warrior as well worn out by the long battle—the beast proved itself to be a too much to handle for Sonic and Knuckles alone so Shadow has been forced to help as well despite his severely weakened state.

But strangely Shadow doesn't rejoice upon finally getting his hands onto the final seventh emerald. Instead tan lips pull into a thin line and the warrior twists the emerald in his hands, studying the gem from all angles.

A scowls settles on Shadow's face as he finally comes to conclusion why the emerald doesn't seem to have the same aura of power like the other six.

"It's fake."

"Fake...?!" Sonic and Knuckles chant in unison in disbelief. They had to fight this hard for a mere _fake_?Knuckles swears loudly under his breath while Sonic still doesn't want to believe such a menacing creature would truly guard a mere replica.

"But the beast! And—"

"It was a mere decoy that was mean to mislead us. They needed to make it believable," Shadow explains as he unceremoniously lets go of the jewel. The fake gem shatters into hundreds of pieces as if it were made of simple colored glass the moment it touches the ground—something that could never happen to the real deal no matter with how much force it was being thrown. "They knew I was already short of time..." he comments just as cough rattles his form, his hand reflexively coming up to cover his mouth while his legs at once give up under his weight.

"Shadow!"

Both Sonic and Knuckles are by his side sooner than he can keel over completely, holding him up when there is no more strength left in his body to do so himself, pulling him to lean against the stone wall of the cave.

Shadow's shoulders heave as he pulls his hand from his mouth, not surprised to see it all stained with fresh blood—but not that of the beast, _his_ blood, the golden ichor of immortals. Something sorrowful flashes through the red eyes. "...it seems my time has come."

"What?!" Sonic barks, shocked, confused and horrified by the turn of events—and the blood on Shadow's hands. "But you said we still have two weeks to get the last Emerald—!"

"All the fighting must have sped up the process," Shadow intervenes calmly as he glances at the ring adorning his left wrist, the yellowish metal now glowing with a faint golden aura as it sucked the remains of his energy from his body. "The fight forced my body to utilize its last reserves of chaos and in response my rings started to draw more power into them like hungry leeches that finally have the chance to feed themselves..."

"There must be something we can do to stop this!" Sonic argues, refusing to give up just yet. "Knuckles! Don't you know anything that can help?"

Shadow looks like he wants to say something—most likely something along the lines of 'it's no use'—but before he can do so another set of coughs wracks his form, more ichor spilling out of his mouth and onto his already stained hands.

Sonic's throat constricts in anxiousness at the sight. There's so much golden on Shadow's hands—!

"Knuckles?" he demands again as he turns to gaze at the silent hero, refusing to accept Shadow's words as the soul-wrenching truth just yet when there was the tiniest chance that the hero may know a way to save Shadow.

But all of Sonic's hopes come crashing down when Knuckles only shakes his head, his face twisted in angry—but resigned—scowl. "I'm sorry, Sonic." _You can't save him._ "...I'll give you guys some privacy." _Say your goodbyes._ "Call me if you need me." _This is the end._

Knuckles squeezes Shadow's shoulder—most likely his own way of saying goodbye—and then gets up to leave the cave. However, Sonic's mind barely registers when the echidna actually walks out of the cave, too preoccupied with the void that's currently tearing itself open in his chest. Everything has seemed so great after they defeated the beast! That all they needed to do was to reach for the emerald and everything would be alright!

They should have already been rejoicing that Shadow's curse was broken, not watch him _die_!

"You did all you could, Sonic," Shadow says, brushing his thumb over the corner of Sonic's eye like the nymph has done during their first meeting, Sonic's hand coming up to clutch on his own. "Be proud of yourself."

Rubies lock with emeralds. "I cannot save you," Sonic replies weakly, despair and beginning of tears starting to cloud his normally vibrant green eyes.

"You've tried. That's what's important."

"It's not enough."

"But that isn't your fault," Shadow states, and this time Sonic has no reply; he remains silent, only staring at the warrior sadly, _longingly_. Shadow feels his heart ache at the acknowledgement that he's the one causing Sonic this horrible pain.

However, he cannot take it away now; he's made the decision to jump into the battle and use his chaos powers when the situation became too dire—even if he was given the choice to do it all over again, he wouldn't change his decision.

Shadow would rather be the one to pay the ultimate price than risking Sonic possibly having to pay it.

He's too dear to him to let that happen.

So dear...

"You know...I don't think I...actually ever said that, so...here it is..." Shadow takes a deep breath, suppressing the cough that tries to get out in that moment and silence him. But he cannot do that. Sonic deserves to hear those word from him—at least _once_. He takes another deep breath and—

"I love you, Sonic." Shadow smiles softly, _fondly_ ; something he did rarely since Maria's death—and now for the _last_ time. "I hope your life is gonna be long and...as happy as you've made mine in my last days."

"I love you too, Shadow," Sonic whispers his words against the other's lips, his pained smile melting against Shadow's own as he kisses the other, his chest squeezing painfully when he tastes the other's ichor on his tongue—literally tastes as life bleeds out of Shadow.

He pulls the smallest fraction away, separating their lips, his own pulling into a sad smile. "...Even though sometimes you don't keep up to your word—like _now_ , about not dying and all," he comments with a small sorrowful chuckle, a first tear rolling down his cheek. "Chaos, how I hate when you do that..."

Shadow's brow furrow at the remark. "Soni—"

"I'm not too late, am I?"

"Rouge!" Sonic jumps as the goddess quite literally _pops into existence_ right beside him. "How did you—"

"We'll talk later," she interjects, determination in her teal eyes, "Now hold his mouth open so I can save him."

Sonic feels his heart leap in elation at the goddess' words. She can _save_ Shadow? He wishes to know how—but there's no time to ask pointless questions. He quickly lays his hands on Shadow's lower jaw to pull his mouth open and watches as Rouge places an object against Shadow's lips—a golden cup embedded with jewels filled with liquid that looks like molten gold itself but lacks its heat. It also seems to _glow_ , small sparkles of chaos energy floating in the bright haze.

Sonic knows what it most likely is, but he doesn't want to believe his eyes. "Is that—is that ambrosia?" the speedster asks as he watches the honey-like substance being poured down Shadow's throat, the warrior using the last of his power to gulp it down without hacking or choking on it.

Sonic actually take notice of her severely disheveled appearance—something that is completely unheard of as Rouge never lets herself be seen in anything but perfect state. Even yesterday, when she had left—quite oddly—just when Knuckles finally seemed to open up to her advances, she had looked nothing less than like an artist's masterpiece.

However, before Sonic can give too much thought to Rouge's odd appearance, another violent cough shakes Shadow's frame and snaps him from his musings abruptly.

"Just breath, Shad," Sonic encourages him, trying not to think too much about the pale ichor that's still falling from his partner's lips as he coughs. "The ambrosia surely is going to take effect soon..."

A few silent moments pass...but it doesn't.

"I guess it's not working for me," Shadow notes with a pained smile. "I don't feel anything at all," he adds quietly, each of his breaths growing shallower and shallower as he struggles to fill his lungs. Sonic feels his heart twist in his chest at the sight, tears prickling in his eyes once again.

 _No, no, no—!_

"Please, Shadow, don't leave me now. You lasted so long, please, don't give up now..." he begs, ignoring the tears that are beginning to roll down his cheeks. "You have to last just a bit longer for it to work..." He glances at Rouge for a confirmation that his belief is right.

But she only gives him a shake of a head and a sorrowful glance. "It should have worked instantly," she whispers quietly, almost inaudibly. "...I'm sorry."

 _NO, NO, NO—!_

"I'm sorry but...that's no longer...in my...power..." It's obvious how much is Shadow struggling to keep conscious, dark eye-lids dropping lower and lower as the eyes under them lose their shine at alarming speed. "Fare...well...Sonic."

 _ **NO—!**_

An agonizing moment later, red eyes close themselves and ultimately Shadow's chest goes...still.

* * *

 **AN: What? An end?!**

 **Nah, we still have ONE more chapter to go... ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

**To the guest (from Oct 2):** You were right, the part about the seventh emerald was missing. I usually first write my stories and then copy-paste them into the posting form and for some unknown reason that particular section about the seventh Emerald refused to be copied (even when I tried to copy it once more). I'm honestly baffled by it as this had never happened to me before. But it should be fixed now!

* * *

Sonic's hands grip on Shadow's shoulders and he tries to shake the warrior awake—despite deep inside already knowing there's no chance of that happening. But still—what if... "Shadow! Don't you dare to leave me!"

The nymph's voice is taut and his face twists in flare of anger as he continues to shake the other. However, the fake mask breaks as fast as it has appeared almost immediately, sobs shaking the speedster's frame as his hands let go of the dark shoulder to instead cradle his husband's face gently. Sonic presses their foreheads together, longing to see the red eyes open again. " _Please, don't_..."

But his pleas go unanswered.

He feels a gentle hand being placed on his shoulder, the comforting gesture however not accompanied by consoling words—why would it be? There isn't anything she could could say to make his pain smaller—not even that Shadow is in better place; after all, it is a common knowledge that all titans are sentenced to eternity the darkest depths of the Underworld—Tartarus.

However, his pain is momentarily forgotten when one particular question enters his mind. He meets the goddess' eyes, his voice a guarded monotone as he asks, "...How did you know you needed to bring the ambrosia today, Rouge?"

Rouge looks a bit taken aback at the sudden question—and the hard look she's suddenly regarded with. "It was a plan B if you guys didn't manage to get the Chaos Emeralds in time..."

"But how did you know to bring it _today_? _This hour_?" The suspicion in Sonic's expression melts into anger when it occurs to him. "—You knew the emerald was fake!"

For a moment, the goddess is silent; but then... "...I did," she admits. Something breaks in her eyes at the confession. "But I couldn't tell you nor could I bring the ambrosia sooner."

She sighs and the strap of her toga shifts briefly and thus gives Sonic a view of the previously hidden dark bite-mark right above her collar bone. "I'm a goddess but even I don't have a _free_ access to this thing. I arrived as soon as I got it."

Taking in her disheveled appearance once more, along with the bite-mark this time, Sonic's eyes widen as his mind pieces together what she had done to obtain the ambrosia, his ire immediately dissolving. "You—"

But before Sonic can even finish his sentence, a loud cackle echoes through the room, interrupting him.

"Chaos, this is just _gold_!"

The two turn abruptly to the source of the voice and Rouge's eyes widen in recognition—and fear. She quickly gets up, shielding Sonic with her body before possible attack. She knew she would be getting in trouble for stealing the ambrosia, however, she has not expected it to come this _soon_.

And _personally_.

Scourge sneers as he circles the fallen warrior and stops by Shadow's side, prodding the motionless hedgehog in the ribs with his foot. "What an excellent proof that defying the will of gods will only get you dead." He chuckles once more as he materializes the desired last Chaos Emerald in his hand and then throws it at Shadow, letting it join the other six that had fallen out of a bag the heroes had thrown to the side in the heat of the battle. Scourge's words full of mockery when he speaks again, "Well, he finally has his seven emeralds, too bad it's too late for him, heh."

Gritting his teeth, Sonic clenches his fists at his sides. So this was the infamous king of the gods, Scourge, the plague of mortals and immortals alike...

"You did _all that_ just to save this guy—and he still dies," the god continues as he puts on a on a fake expression of sympathy as he glances at Shadow's unmoving body, shaking his head as he theatrically sighs and dramatically opens his arms. "How _sad_."

He breaks his gaze away from the dark warrior and brings it back to the duo, his brows raising when he sees the expression that Rouge's wearing on her face.

"Ahh, why are you making such face, Roo? You really thought I wouldn't notice you sneaking out of my room to steal ambrosia to help this guy?" Scourge asks as he points to Shadow, his lips pulling into a smirk as he holds eye-contact with the goddess. "No such luck."

He starts to walk towards them, Rouge immediately moving to shield Sonic from the god's gaze with her own body and then tries to push the speedster towards the cave entrance; even if Shadow trained Sonic well for one-on-one combat, the speedster still stood no chance against Scourge.

 _No one_ did.

Unfortunately, her attempt on hiding Sonic, is actually what causes Scourge's icy blue eyes to zero in on the speedster.

Scourge tilts his head and raises his brow, his expression filled with interest and recognition. "You're _that_ nymph..."

"I am," Sonic replies simply, his tone close to a growl. His fists were clenched as he returned the god's gaze without hesitation and instead an _**extra**_ heat and lot of metaphorical daggers, which unfortunately aren't as effective as the real ones.

Despite the hostility he's being regard with, a big smirk still stretches across Scourge's face. "Well, well, what an interesting development we have here..."

Scowling, Rouge quickly shields Sonic from Scourge's gaze again. She knows that smirk—it means only trouble. "Leave him out of this."

"Or what? You'll _fight_ me?" Scourge questions with a raised brow, appearing more amused than intimidated by her doing. "We both know what that would end like."

"I won't go down without a fight," Rouge replies with a determined frown—she was done for either way because of her crime. If she doesn't submit, she can at least give Sonic the time to escape. She owes it to Shadow—she had done nothing to stop Scourge from destroying the warrior's family because of the prophecy all these years ago, the only way to correct her wrongdoing is by giving her life to save Sonic.

"It wouldn't be fun if you did." Scourge smirks as he takes a proper battle stance. "You know what? I'll give you two a free first shot to make this more interesting." The god's smirk stretches even bigger. "You better not waste it."

Rouge mirrors the other, spreading her wings and thus blocking Sonic's way before he could step beside her. She glances at the speedster from the corner of her eye. "Once I attack, you're running the hell out of here, do you understand?" she whispers and then turns her gaze back to her opponent who is eagerly awaiting her attack with a wide grin on his face. "I've already failed Shadow once today, and I don't want to fail him again by letting you get killed."

Sonic frowns at her words. _Playing the Shadow card, are you?_ "Sorry, Rouge, but you aren't getting rid of me so easily." He picks up Shadow's sword, which the warrior lent him for slaying the beast that guarded the emerald.

Well, he supposes it's _his_ sword now...

He shakes his head to chase the thought away. _I need to focus now._ He can wallow in sadness later. Now he needs to help Rouge get out of this mess. "I've got a score to settle with him anyway."

For Shadow, himself and all the other people the god has hurt through the time of his reign.

"Sonic, you can't fight him!"

Even if the goddess is not very happy about it.

Hissing, she attempts to push him back behind her—unsuccessfully as he evades her wing before she can do so.

"Doesn't matter. I'm still doing it," he announces, not willing to budge. "You're my friend and either we're leaving both or neither."

She huffs in frustration at his uncooperativeness. "You're no match for him! _We_ are no match for him!" she argues. "He's too powerful!"

"We better defeat him with our first attack then," Sonic replies with a grin as he grasps the hilt of his sword tightly with both hands, glancing at the goddess from the corner of his eyes. "Ready for the show?"

Rouge stares at him for few long moments. Then she shakes her head, her resolve about keeping him out of the battlefield cracking. Sighing, she moves back into her battle stance. "You're so goddamn stubborn," she huffs, glancing at him from the corner of her eyes. "How did you and Shadow not butt heads all the time?"

"Actually, we did," Sonic replies, pushing away his sadness as he recalls the numerous memories of him and Shadow arguing over one thing or another—more than often absolutely trivial ones. A soft smiles graces his lips. "It was one of the things that made the marriage so much fun."

"I imagine," Rouge remarks with an amused snort, before turning her eyes back to Scourge, her wings moving into position for a take-off. _Hopefully, you won't be doing that again any time soon,_ she adds in her mind, not wanting to spoil whatever remained of their luck—they'll need all of it to get out of this alive. "Let's do this."

"Aye, captain!" Without hesitation, Sonic leaps forward at the command, Rouge just a beat of a wing behind him. Smirking, Scourge only stands there as Sonic swings his sword in a wide arc and Rouge's shin comes hurling towards the god's head.

"Or you know what? No free first shots for you!" With a smirk, Scourge quickly dodges Rouge's leg, a shimmering sword appearing in his hands to block even Sonic's attack. "After all, thieves shouldn't be awarded for their actions!"

"Now you're speaking about yourself, right?" Sonic quips back as he whirls around and behind Scourge's back, the god immediately turning around to block the cobalt speedster's blade with his own before it could sink into his flesh. "After all, you stole my freedom and every other nymphs before we even were born!"

"I'm the _king_ , Blue," Scourge emphasizes, putting his weight on his sword to force Sonic to shuffle back. "That means I can _do_ and _take_ whatever I want!"

"Not for long," Sonic responds as he uses the sword against sword 'pushing game' to knee the other in the stomach, and thus giving Rouge the opportunity to land a sneaky kick on Scourge's head from behind the god's back. The attacks lands and Scourge begins to fall forward. However, instead of collapsing the god uses the momentum to perform a somersault, quickly rolling to the side to escape them and evade any possible attacks.

"Fuckers!" he hollers in anger, seething as he sends the bat a venomous glare; it's obvious his pride has been hurt more by the blow than his head itself. "You're gonna die for this!" he scream and charges forward in a wild whirlwind of deadly green spikes, both Rouge and Sonic immediately having to use their agility and speed to their maximum capabilities to avoid getting cut into pieces.

In the heat of battle, none of the three notices the smallest twitch of Shadow's hand or how the Chaos Emeralds slowly rise up into the air, seemingly of their own accord.

"Rouge, a little help here—!" Sonic shouts as he barely manages to dodge another stab and block another slice on his side. "The sooner, the better!"

"You're moving too fast for me!" Rouge calls back, the bat having to constantly twist in the air to keep an eye on them as the hedgehog duo keeps on zipping from one side to another, both utilizing their inborn speed to its maximum potential but neither of them gaining an edge in the fight thanks to it; Scourge may be the fastest of gods, but Sonic is the fastest of nymphs—their speed matched too closely for it to make a difference.

Her lips press into a thin line. She has honestly never before seen anyone actually go toe-to-toe with Scourge like this—not even Patch or Buns even though they're the gods of war.

Sonic truly is something special.

 _You have some fine taste, Shadow,_ she applauds mentally as she continues to watch the fight, waiting for an opening to strike—the moment fatigue would overwhelm the super-fast hedgehogs and slow them down at least for few seconds for her to have enough time to attack.

It doesn't take long for a such chance to present itself.

"Got you!" Her knee successfully connects with Scourge's skull before he can zoom away once more, the blow throwing off the god's balance for the moment, making him stumble forward and thus as well graze himself on Sonic's sword.

A loud curse leaves Scourge's mouth as he shuffles few feet back, his hand shooting up to cover the bleeding wound on his side. Icy blue eyes glare daggers into both of the heroes.

"You little—!" Scourge attempts to step forward, but his knees buckle under him unexpectedly, his free hand shooting forward to stop him from involuntarily kissing the ground. "What the—?!" The god pulls his hand away from his injured side, a mixture of shock and horror twisting his expression when he sees both his hand and side covered in black tar-like substance instead of golden ichor. "...hell?" he glances in their direction, his eyes widening in terror. Both Sonic and Rouge follow his line of sight, neither able to hide their surprise at seeing Sonic's blade enveloped in a dark menacing aura.

Sonic blinks in surprise; Shadow has not told him anything about the sword being able to do a light show. "What the...?"

"God-slayer," Rouge breathes in awe. "I've thought it were destroyed a long time ago..."

"God-slayer?" Sonic repeats, confused. "You know something about this?"

"A single scratch by this sword can kill _any_ immortal—it poisons their ichor irreversibly. Those injured by it will die in matter of minutes," she explains, turning her gaze to now wheezing Scourge. "Even _gods_."

"...You think I'm gonna give you the satisfaction of seeing me just keel over and die?" Scourge hisses through gritted teeth as he pushes himself back into a standing position despite his shaking limbs. His trembling fingers curl tightly around the hilt of his sword, the god disregarding the fact his hand is still stained with his own blood. "No. _Fucking_. Way."

"Good," a deep voice echoes through the cave unexpectedly. Sonic's mind immediately presumes it must be Knuckles coming back. However, it's in that split-second of turning around that Sonic realizes that it's _not_ rough enough to be Knuckles' and that it's actually sounded more like—

However, before Sonic can even confirm if the speaker is truly who he thinks them to be, he is forced to close his eyes as a blinding light fills the cave, accompanied by an ear-shattering sound similar to that of an erupting volcano, a golden shock-wave mercilessly pushing them all up against the cave wall.

And despite the roaring of chaos wind in his ears, Sonic can still make out the soft-chime of rings scattering across the floor, his lips stretching into the widest grin possible as he realizes what only could be the source of the noise.

 _You just love surprising me, don't you, Shad?_ Slowly, to let his sight adjust to the light change, Sonic opens his eyes and just stares, taking in the dazzling form of the immortal before him, golden fire enveloping the warrior's body. The air in the cave seems to pulsate with power as he steps forward.

" _It wouldn't be fun if you did._ " Scourge's earlier words are repeated as smugly as the god must have felt when he uttered them.

Sonic does not know how it is possible—how it's possible that Shadow now stands before them, alive, healthy and literally holding the power of Chaos itself in his hands; and, frankly, he _doesn't_ care.

But the god clearly does. "How are you not dead?!" Scourge growls angrily, both his expression and body-language showing the wrath coursing through his veins.

However, an attentive eye wouldn't miss that, at the same time, his eyes speak of _fear_.

"It's thanks to your _gift_ ," Shadow comments as he powers down, the purple Chaos Emerald appearing in his hand just as the golden hue lifts from his fur, the wild power of Chaos retreating back to its emerald confines. "When the seven Chaos Emeralds are together, they give their controller power over space, time and _life_ itself—the power of the primordial god, Chaos, himself." A smirk pulls at Shadow's mouth. "Only a fool would give up something like this to mock his enemy."

"And yet you gave up the power." Scourge sneers, the pain of his mortal wound evident in his voice and in his body when he lets go of his sword to clutch his bleeding side. He sinks to the ground, a loud grating laugh leaving him. "Who's the fool around here?"

"Still you if you think if you think I'll fall for that and spare you the suffering," Shadow comments as he steps forward to stand before the defeated god, not tricked by the other's bravado—he can feel the god no longer has any power left. A spear of golden energy materializes in Shadow's hand and he positions it under Scourge's chin, the action forcing the god to look up at him. "Your death is approaching, Scourge, and that's fact neither you nor me will change."

Scourge looks like he wants to responds but by the time he manages to breath out, a dark ichor is already falling from his lips in a scene ironically similar to that of Shadow's own 'death'.

"You've made your bed—now lie in it."

~O~

"You're alive—and young!"

Shadow admits those aren't the best words to be greeted with but he cannot say he didn't anticipate it.

So he simply replies, "I am."

"What—? How—? When—? What happened there?!" the echidna finally manages to get out looking thoroughly confused by the turn of events.

Rouge chuckles and walks over to him, linking her arm with his free one to tug him away. "Oh, hon, you've missed quite the show," she remarks as she picks up one the apples Knuckles apparently decided to collect while they were still in the cave and which he had dropped out of shock at seeing Shadow alive. She dusts off the fruit and bits into it and then starts to drag him away before he can protest. "Let me tell you about it."

However, Knuckles doesn't budge and instead keeps staring at her as if he'd been struck.

The goddess raises her eye-ridge. "You know, I'm used to men being unable to tear their eyes from me," she comments with a grin. "However, you doing so is unusual."

"You look amazing battle-worn," Knuckles blurts out before he can stop himself, his already naturally red face turning even redder when he realizes what he's just allowed to escape.

"Ah~" A big smile stretches across Rouge's face. "So feisty girls are you type, huh, hon?"

"T-that's not what I—!" Knuckles splutters, clearly trying to explain what he's said—but there's only way to interpret his words. He grits his teeth and looks away in shame when he realizes it. "...Yes."

"That's great." She nudges Knuckles' chin to make the hero look at her. When that doesn't work, she simply presses closer, the action making Knuckles turn his gaze at her with a surprised jerk. "Because my type are powerful strong men that easily blush."

Unsurprisingly, that makes Knuckles only blush more and splutter a bit. Her grin grows only wider at that.

"Let's take this somewhere private, what do you say?" Rouge asks, already tugging him away as she gives Sonic and Shadow a quick glance and a wink over her shoulder, voicelessly telling them they were free to do whatever they pleased now.

However, it is not until the bat-echidna duo is behind the trees that words are uttered between them.

"Shadow?"

"Yes?" Shadow ask as he turns to the other, barely managing to not topple over when Sonic very much lunges at him, peach arms wrapping around his body just as warm lips are laid against his own, kissing with passion and need—a wish of reassurance that he truly is here and not going anywhere.

Shadow's arms circle Sonic's form just as the nymph breaks the kiss apart. "Don't you dare to do something like that again," Sonic whispers quietly, his expressions stern but voice not carrying enough power to pass it as a real scolding. "...For a moment there, I've thought I really lost you."

"I don't plan to steal any ambrosia from Scourge anytime soon again if that reassures you," Shadow replies, earning himself an amused chuckle and gentle punch to his shoulder with the absurd joke.

"Stop that," Sonic commands him, a soft grin now on his lips. "I'm the one who's supposed to make jokes in this relationship."

"I'm not letting you take all the spot-light, hedgehog."

"Of course, you won't." Sonic grins as he loops his arms around his partner's neck, giving himself a moment to just rove his gaze over the other's visage and take a proper look at how Shadow actually looks like with no magic involved. _Not bad._

"You know, I've really enjoyed your aged up look, but I'm definitely digging this one too," Sonic comments after a moment of silence, softly brushing a hand over his dark chest. "It also makes me curious what you can to me now when you were already damn impressive in your _seventies_." Sonic winks as he locks their gazes together, pressing just a tad _closer_. "What do you say about ditching the tavern idea until later and having fun now? I've seen a nice spot with soft moss just few yards from here."

Shadow looks completely unfazed by Sonic's attempt on seduction. "Really, hedgehog? Now?"

"I'm a nymph, Shad. This is in my nature." Sonic grins and shrugs his shoulder. "Plus, it seems like a pretty good way to celebrate, don't you think?"

Shadow stares at him for a moment and then shakes his head. "You nymphs are truly insatiable, aren't you?" he asks as he applies gentle pressure to Sonic's lower back, pulling the other against his body.

"Sometimes~" Sonic's smile spreads wider, his eyes lighting up at the silent show of approval. "But first—Race!"

As fast as an eye can blink, Sonic is suddenly standing several yards away, grinning at him mischievously.

"Race?" Shadow questions, the warrior absolutely caught of guard by this sudden development. "I thought you wanted—"

"I do! But if we do that now, I won't get to race you until tomorrow—and I think that would be shame," Sonic explains as he starts to stretch himself—mostly just for the show. He has to make sure Shadow's attention won't sway somewhere else, right? "I mean like this you'll at least be motivated to catch me."

"And what do you think will happen once I get my hands on you?" Shadow questions, catching on the other speedster's game quickly.

"Honestly, I don't know," Sonic replies as he takes off his tunic—all the grime of fighting ruined it anyway; plus like this he has even more of Shadow's attention on himself. Slowly he locks gazes with the other and _provocatively_ lets the tunic fall to the ground. "But I'm curious to find out."

"You _will,_ " Shadow assures him, red eyes now burning with quiet fire.

"You better keep to your word!" Sonic advices him and without any further warning breaks into a run, heading straight into the forest.

Without hesitation, Shadow dives right after him.

 _The End._


End file.
